222 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



October, 



made of boards nailed to cleats and 

 coming as high as the top of the su- 

 pers above the hive bodies. Braces 

 may be nailed to these arrangements 

 so as to prevent too much pressure 

 against the hives and stands. 



When you see your bees boiling out 

 of the hives on fair, sunshiny days 

 during the winter you will feel repaid 

 for the little outlay of muscle, nails, 

 paper and time you have taken. 



Protection and warmth save many 

 pounds of honey in keeping up the 

 temperature within the little honey 

 circle. 



PHILADELPHIA ADULTERATORS. 



The State Dairy and Food Commis- 

 sioner is after the Philadelphia store- 

 keepers who sell adulterated products. 

 Lard, butter, syrup, cider, vinegar, and 

 honey have been analyzed and found 

 to be sophisticated to such an extent 

 that many prosecutions have been 

 brought before a magistrate who has 

 been kept busy levying .$50 fines. 



There is one concern in Philadelphia 

 which sells what is called "compound 

 honey." to the retail trade. There is 

 very little of the real article in the sO- 

 called honey, the remainder being glu- 

 cose. The word "compound" is printed 

 on the labels in such small letters that 

 unsuspecting buyers are tempted by 

 the price to purchase thinking they are 

 getting pure honey. 



SWARTHMORE INTERVIEWED. 



I rode into Philadelphia on a Darby 

 trolley car recently with Mr. Pratt, the 

 Swarthmore (lueen breeder. He had 

 with him a launch of Benton queen 

 cages in which he was shipping a lot 

 of golden queens to foreign countries. 

 He told me the business just then was 

 booming and that he had calls for all 

 the queens that he had on hand. 



In conversation he said he had taken 

 a trip in the early spring to Florida for 

 the purpose of locating a branch apiary 

 where he could raise early queens. His 

 fancy was for the neighborhood of 

 Jacksonville, and I thinlv next spring 

 will find him installed in the Land of 

 Flowers prepared to supply queens as 

 early as any one. 



With his system of breeding in the 

 use of diminutive nuclei hives. I rather 

 think things will hum as well as bees. 

 So keep an eye open for Pratt. 



THE CUBAN SITUATION. 



While he was in Florida he had 



talks with some returned Argonauts 

 from Cuba. They had but one cry: 

 The land is rotten with foul brood, and 

 that they were glad enough to get 

 away to the States again. 



It looks as if many years will elapse, 

 if ever, before Yankee apiarists will 

 locate in numbers in Cuba if they are 

 to l)e exposed to the ravages of this 

 disease through the careless, antiquat- 

 ed methods of the natives. 



STARTERS VS. FULL SHEETS. 



A great mistake, in my experience, 

 is made by writers who advocate the 

 use of starters of foundation in hiving 

 swarms. 



There is always the possibility that 

 given only these instead of full sheets 

 the bees will build much drone comb. 

 In finishing ott' the bottom of a comb 

 they seem to get tired of the job and 

 fill in about twelve to fifteen rows and 

 sometimes more, with large cells. 

 AVhereas, when they have full sheets 

 o! foundation they build worker cells 

 nine times out of ten clean to the bot- 

 tom bar. 



While on this subject let us inquire 

 why is it that the makers of founda- 

 tion persist in using the worker or 

 small cell dies for section foundation 

 instead of stamping drone cells on the 

 sheets? 



Natural coml) is generally composed 

 of large cells. Bees are economical of 

 wax and build drone cells for the rea- 

 son. 



They do some queer things, too, in 

 the way of cell building. Being short 

 of division boards one day in hiving a 

 small swarm that alighted on a tree 

 near my home I used a Doolittle feeder 

 for a substitute. Althoiigh work pre- 

 vented me from examining the young 

 colony for several weeks and it went 

 ahead and built up strong. But when 

 1 opened the hive to see how things 

 were coming on I found the new 

 boarders had not only filled the combs 

 on which they were hived but had 

 started in to fill the feeder as well. 

 I i)ried oit" one of the sides of the feed- 

 er and disconnected four rows of comb 

 built from side to side and filled with 

 honey. If I had let the little workers 

 alone no doiibt they would have filled 

 the feeder solidly with comb and hon- 

 ey. But I removed the feeder and gave 

 them a regular division board. 



Kutledge, Pa., Aug. 10, 1903. 



